Five levels of failing

So the other day I listened to a podcast on success with Peter Voogd who referenced two friends of his, Fenton & Waltz, who have written a little book called ‘Go for No!”.

The usual way to look at success is to dodge or eliminate the potential failures. Fenton & Waltz speaks of the opposite, that failure is required for success.

Fenton & Waltz want us to fail our way into success, and they have come up with five levels in mastering it. This way of thinking definitely resonated with me as I am in a process of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and become courageous and bold.

Level 1 is defined as The ability to Fail. All people are born with this ability, but according to Voogd 80% of all people stay at this level. What keeps people stuck here is their intense fear of failure.

Level 2 is The Willingness to Fail. On this level you have gone against the fear of failure, and you have learned to accept failure as part of the process to become successful. You know by learning from your mistakes you will grow.

Level 3 is The Wantingness to Fail. On this level you develop the want to fail and have inner faith that personal and/or financial success will follow. This is powerful! To Want to go for a No, and to truly know you will eventually succeed is far beyond what most people reach.

Level 4 is The Failing Bigger & Faster. The ones who have come to know that failing is good for success soon realize that failing faster is a whole lot better. They not only want to fail faster, but are also more inclined to fail bigger – which means more at risk. The greater the risk, the greater the success.

Level 5 is Failing Exponentially. Let’s say we have a business and you are the CEO and have climbed the 5 levels of Failing. You know that a major success requires bigger efforts, so you start to teach your employees in the greatness to fail. You know that individual failure leads to individual success, so group failure leads to group success. These level 5 people want us to step up together so we all can make a greater impact.

I love this. It’s not something you are born with, and it’s definitely not something you just get. You have to work for it. For every time you go against your fears, you grow. The more times you do it you spark a momentum and the willingness to fail grow. BUT, you have to push yourself. And it is of absolute importance to be clear on what the goal is and why you need to fail, because with clarity the willingness to risk becomes stronger.